Snow Alert--We'll Probably Close at 7 pm--Plus What My Family in Worcester is Reading.

Just a short note about my few days visiting my mother and sister in Worcester. At one point we drove past the old Tatnuck Booksellers, and we all sighed. My mom is currently reading Alice Hoffman's The Dovekeepers, while Claudia is reading The Malice of Fortune. She swears by reading on the elliptical--that's 60 minutes of quality reading on a good day.

Claudia just finished a Barbara Kingsolver novel and loved it. I thought she was talking about the new book, Flight Behavior, but it turned out to be the perennial favorite, The Poisonwood Bible. Like so many other folks who read that book, she was almost evangelical about it afterwards.

Have I mentioned that we have a lot of events this spring? I've been steadily reading our offerings--there's a lot more fiction than last fall. On my flight over, I had a great time reading Christina Schwarz's new novel, The Edge of the Earth (that event is on Tuesday, April 9, at Boswell) and now I've begun Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson (that event is Friday, April 19, with the location not quite locked in yet), which is getting amazing early reads. Ian Rankin talked it up at his event last week.

Speaking of special events, Angela at the Wisconsin Humane Society wrote to us and said they already have over 70 folks holding reservations to next Tuesday's event (February 12) with Ted Kerasote, for Pukka's Promise. If you were thinking of coming and haven't RSVP'd, I would highly recommend that you do so now.

I just called into Boswell, who told me that snow is falling steadily. We have no event tonight, and based on what our traffic has been and previous experience, we are likely going to close early, 7 pm. If you were planning to visit us tonight, I would double check by calling us at (414) 332-1181, but the snow should stop tonight and we should be open tomorrow regular hours. Both our Friday and Saturday authors (John Bolger for The Hunters on Friday, February 8, 7 pm, and Faith Barrett with Aviva Cristy on Satuday, February 9, 2 pm) should not be affected.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to avoid the storm in Milwaukee and the one brewing in New England. I was originally scheduled to return on Friday evening, but I was able to rebook it for the morning, though now as a connecting flight. Everyone we chatted with at my Mom's place wondered when I was leaving, and most gave me the ominous "if you don't get out before the storm, you'll probably be stuck here for days."

Good thing the Kate Atkinson novel is long and engrossing!